United For Peace In Mideast

Foreign Affairs - This week's focus: The Middle East - The search for solutions an agenda for change

Women Promote Nonviolence

February 18, 2002|By Rania Awwad Special to the Sentinel

One feature of the current intifada against Israeli occupation of Palestine is the unprecedented, widespread participation of women -- Palestinian and Israeli alike -- in promoting a peaceful and just resolution to the conflict.

Recently, when a female suicide bomber moved against Israelis, analysts were quick to conclude that this incident illustrates how Palestinian women are becoming more radicalized, creating a larger pool of Palestinians desperate enough to carry out such operations. It is important, however, that this isolated episode not be used to eclipse the substantial movement for nonviolent resistance that Palestinian women have built through the years and formed into a cooperative effort with their Israeli counterparts.

Palestinian women have used nonviolent resistance as a political tool since the beginning of the last century. During the British Mandate period in the early 1920s, they organized petitions to the British government and held mass demonstrations against British policy in Palestine. After the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel, when nearly 1 million Palestinians were driven from their homes, Palestinian women led the way in organizing the kinds of services and support networks that would be needed to keep this new refugee population alive.

Today, women continue to assume important roles in leading peaceful demonstrations and setting up popular relief committees. In some of the larger cities, for instance, women's groups have created after-school programs for Palestinian youth. These programs keep youngsters from being drawn into street fights with armed Israeli soldiers or settlers, and teach them how to express and demonstrate their legitimate frustrations through creative and nonviolent means.

The intifada has also promoted the Israeli women on both sides of the issue. A significant number of them have taken a strong stand against the government's treatment of the Palestinians. Some of these women fear the corrosive effect that occupying another people will have on Israeli society. Others worry about the price their own sons might have to pay for the suppression of the Palestinian uprising.

The intifada has also created numerous opportunities for encounters and joint ventures between women on both sides. Together they have succeeded in removing Israeli army blockades and filling in trenches -- practices routinely undertaken by the Israeli army to inhibit Palestinian freedom of movement. In other actions, they have placed their own lives in danger by lying down in front of army bulldozers or chaining themselves to olive trees in efforts to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes and property.

While there is reason to be encouraged by these efforts, alliances between Palestinian and Israeli women are fragile and face constant challenges. Furthermore, women working for a nonviolent end to the conflict receive little support -- sometimes even open hostility -- from those in power.

Particularly important for the development of these and similar resistance movements will be the presence of international observers to protect against intimidation and assure nonviolent activists of international solidarity with their struggle. Toward this end, Palestinians have solicited private delegations from Europe, the United States and Canada. The United States, however, has repeatedly blocked formation of an international observer group despite almost universal support for the idea.

Recently, the Bush administration was debating whether to sever ties with the Palestinian leadership while at the same time welcoming the Israeli leadership into the White House and continuing to send billions each year to the Israeli military, all the while claiming to be an honest broker. It would be wiser to provide financial and other support -- starting with backing an international observer group -- to help bolster women's peace movements and other organizations working to promote a nonviolent end to this terrible conflict.